Background: I was working on a guy’s computer trying to fix a problem with MS Office. I completely removed Office and then reinstalled it, then I went in and installed what appeared to be two years worth of Windows Critical Updates. The problem with Office was fixed…
BUT, now Windows will not display thumbnails of photos in Windows Explorer (or, for that matter, when inserting a picture into a Word document). When setting the folder display option to “thumbnail” it shows all of the tiles, but instead of a thumbnail it just shows the default picture icon.
I discovered that I neglected to reinstall Microsoft Photo Editor, but after reinstalling it I still get no thumbnail lovin’. This is a particular pain in the ass for guys that insert dozens of different photos and drawings into Word documents…
Anyone have a clue what little check box I need to check to get thumbnails to preview? Any help at all would be most appreciated!
In Windows Explorer (shortcut to get there - Windows key-E), there’s an icon at the top called “views”. Click the down-arrow next to that, and chose “thumbnails”. Easy like pie. Or, right click in the right-hand pane of WE and choose “view” there.
Windows should remember the settings for each directory. You can force this behaviour globally (in all your directories, not the whole planet, eh?) by clicking on the “tools” button near the top of the screen, then “folder options” then “view” and then “like current folder”.
“View as Web Page” works for image file preview in Windows Explorer using Windows 98.
I got something altered in my (Win 98) computer when one of my kids downloaded a Quicktime update. It altered the .jpg icons to the QT logo, as though the new software had colonized my image files and planted its flag there to claim them.
I reset the icon display, but one thing I could not reset was: It killed the .jpg preview.
I can still preview .gif and .bmp, but .jpg preview has remained nonexistent since then.